History of James Callaghan - GOV.UK GOV.UK James Callaghan Labour 1976 to 1979 Born 27 March 1912 , Copnor area of Portsmouth, Hampshire Died 26 March 2005, Ringmer, East Sussex Dates in office Major acts Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976: regulated the keeping of dangerous wild animals. Race Relations Act 1976: serious amendments to the 1968 act to make fresh provision with respect to discrimination on racial grounds and relations between people of different racial groups. Interesting facts He was the only Prime Minister to come to the premiership after holding the other 3 great offices of state: Chancellor of the Exchequer (1964 to 1967), Home Secretary (1967 to 1970) and Foreign Secretary (1974 to 1976). He was the father of Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, Labour peer and former Leader of the House of Lords.

James Callaghan is the only 20th-century British Prime Minister to have held all 4 major offices of state: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister. James Callaghan (sometimes affectionately referred to as ‘Big Jim’ or ‘Sunny Jim’) grew up in poverty during the Depression. Unable to afford the tuition fees for University, he joined the Inland Revenue in the 1930s, helping to set up the Association of Officers of Taxes trade union. He was elected Member of Parliament for Cardiff South in 1945 after spending 3 years in the British Navy during the Second World War. As Chancellor, Callaghan oversaw the controversial devaluation of the British pound in 1967, which was followed by his swift resignation. His next ministerial position as Home Secretary saw the increase of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland that reached its highest point under the following Conservative administration of Ted Heath. Callaghan’s short period as Foreign Secretary, however, was interrupted by the surprise resignation of Harold Wilson in 1976. Callaghan, who was popular across all parts of the Labour Party, won the leadership election and became Prime Minister.

Callaghan’s government lost its majority of seats in Parliament on his first day in office. This forced him to rely upon the support of the Liberal Party during 1977 to 1978, and then the Scottish National Party for the remainder of the government. It is for this reason that the 1979 referendum on the devolution of powers to Scotland was produced, which was narrowly defeated by the Scottish voters. His years as Prime Minister also saw the introduction of the Police Act of 1976, which formalised Police complaints procedures; the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act of 1977, which established the responsibility of local authorities to provide housing to homeless people; and the Education Act of 1976, which limited the number of independent and grant-maintained schools in any one area. However, these years saw Britain’s economy performing poorly. By 1976, inflation had hit almost 17% with 1.5 million (or around 5% of workers) unemployed. Callaghan’s controversial decision to ask the International Monetary Fund for an emergency loan in 1976 created significant tensions within the Cabinet.

His successful leadership during the Cabinet’s careful consideration of this decision has earned him wide praise among later observers. Despite this success, further attempts by the government to reduce inflation through wage restrictions for public sector workers caused a wave of strikes across the winter of 1978 to 1979, which has become known as the ‘Winter of Discontent’. Having been severely undermined by these events, a motion of ‘no confidence’ against the Callaghan government was called by opposition MPs in Parliament in March 1979. This motion was passed by 311 votes against the 310 MPs that opposed it. The following general election in May 1979 was won by Margaret Thatcher ’s Conservative party. BBC - History - James Callaghan z James Callaghan © Callaghan was British Labour prime minister from 1976 to 1979, years dominated by economic recession and industrial militancy which contributed to the election of the Conservatives and Labour's exclusion from office for the next 18 years. Callaghan was born on 27 March 1912 in Portsmouth and began working life for the Inland Revenue at the age of 16.

He served in the Royal Navy during World War Two and in 1945 was elected Labour member of parliament for Cardiff South. In 1964, he was chosen by Labour prime minister Harold Wilson to be chancellor of the exchequer. His effectiveness at the Treasury, however, was limited by his resolute refusal to devalue the pound, which left British exports highly uncompetitive, and also by a power struggle with George Brown's Department of Economic Affairs, a new ministry deliberately created by Wilson to limit the power of the treasury. When devaluation became unavoidable in 1967, Callaghan was moved to the home office. Here he adopted an authoritarian and conservative line. He also took the decision to deploy British troops to Northern Ireland in 1969 after sectarian violence in the province. Callaghan also made a decisive intervention against Barbara Castle's plans for a wages policy in 1969, a move that reinforced his credentials as a staunch ally of the trade unions, but also contributed to the unravelling of Labour's economic strategy in the 1970s.

After serving as foreign secretary in 1974-1976, Callaghan succeeded Wilson as prime minister in 1976. He responded to Britain's deepening economic recession by adopting deflationary policies and cuts in public expenditure, which anticipated the monetarism of Margaret Thatcher after 1979. He succeeded in securing some improvement in the nation's situation, but then committed a tactical error in postponing a general election until the spring of 1979, only to see his government totally discredited by mass industrial militancy during the 1978-1979 'winter of discontent'. He resigned as leader soon after the 1979 election, and later became a life peer. He died on 26 March 2005.

James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan | prime minister of United Kingdom | Britannica.com James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan prime minister of United Kingdom Written By: Alternative Titles: James Callaghan, Leonard James Callaghan James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan Prime minister of United Kingdom Also known as James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan, original name in full Leonard James Callaghan (born March 27, 1912, Portsmouth , Hampshire, England —died March 26, 2005, Ringmer, East Sussex ), British Labour Party politician, who was prime minister from 1976 to 1979. James Callaghan. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Callaghan entered the civil service at age 17 as a tax officer. By 1936 he had become a full-time trade-union official. After serving as a lieutenant in naval intelligence during World War II , he entered Parliament in 1945, representing the Welsh constituency of Cardiff South. Between 1947 and 1951 Callaghan held junior posts at the Ministry of Transport and at the Admiralty .

When Harold Wilson ’s Labour government was formed in 1964, Callaghan was named chancellor of the Exchequer. In this capacity he helped secure in 1966–67 international agreement to a system called Special Drawing Rights , which in effect created a new kind of international money. He resigned from the Exchequer in 1967, when he was forced to devalue the pound sterling . He then served as home secretary until 1970. In Wilson’s second government in 1974, Callaghan was named foreign secretary; and in 1976, upon Wilson’s resignation, Callaghan succeeded him as prime minister, largely because the Parliamentary Labour Party considered him the least divisive candidate. Throughout his ministry (1976–79), Callaghan, a moderate within the Labour Party, tried to stem the increasingly vociferous demands of Britain’s trade unions. He also had to secure the passage of unpopular cuts in government spending early in his ministry. His reassuring public manner came to be criticized as complacency when a series of labour strikes in 1978–79 paralyzed hospital care, refuse collection, and other essential services.

In March 1979 his government was brought down by a vote of no confidence passed in the House of Commons , the first such occurrence since 1924. At the subsequent general election, Callaghan’s party was defeated. On October 15, 1980, he resigned as leader of the Labour Party , to be succeeded by Michael Foot . He was created a life peer in 1987 and published an autobiography, Time and Chance, the same year. Learn More in these related articles: James Callaghan James Callaghan ▼ Primary Sources ▼ James Callaghan James Callaghan was born in Portsmouth in 1912. After being educated at Portsmouth Northern School, he joined the staff of the Inland Revenue. In 1931 he joined the Labour Party and began work as a trade union official. Callaghan was selected as the parliamentary candidate for South Cardiff and was elected to the House of Commons in the 1945 General Election and held minor posts in the government of Clement Attlee . When Hugh Gaitskell died in 1963, Callaghan was one of the main contenders for the party leadership.

Callaghan, who represented the right-wing of the party, was defeated by Harold Wilson . When the Labour Party was elected in the 1964 General Election , Callaghan became the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In this post he created a great deal of controversy by introducing corporation tax and selective employment tax. After a long struggle, Callaghan was forced to devalue the pound in November 1967. Callaghan resigned from office but was recalled as Home Secretary in 1968. He held the post until the defeat of the Labour government in the 1970 General Election . Edward Heath and his Conservative government came into conflict with the trade unions over his attempts to impose a prices and incomes policy. His attempts to legislate against unofficial strikes led to industrial disputes. In 1973 a miners' work-to-rule led to regular power cuts and the imposition of a three day week. Heath called a general election in 1974 on the issue of "who rules". He failed to get a majority and Harold Wilson and the Labour Party were returned to power. Wilson appointed Callaghan as his foreign secretary.

In this post he had responsibility for renegotiating Britain's terms of membership of the European Economic Community (ECC). in 1975 Callaghan was demoted to the position of minister of overseas development. Now aged 63, political commentators thought Callaghan's political career was coming to an end. However, when Harold Wilson resigned in 1976, Callaghan surprisingly defeated Roy Jenkins and Michael Foot for the leadership of the Labour Party . The following year Callaghan, and his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey , controversially began imposing tight monetary controls. This included deep cuts in public spending on education and health. Critics claimed that this laid the foundations of what became known as monetarism. In 1978 these public spending cuts led to a wave of strikes (winter of discontent) and the Labour Party was easily defeated in the 1979 General Election . Margaret Thatcher became the new prime minister and Callaghan was leader of the opposition until he resigned in 1980. Callaghan was made a life peer in 1987. His autobiography, Time and Chance , was published in 1987.

James 'Sunny Jim' Callaghan, 92; was British prime minister - The Boston Globe James 'Sunny Jim' Callaghan, 92; was British prime minister By Sue Leeman, Associated Press | March 28, 2005 LONDON -- Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, the affable, self-educated sailor's son who rose from poverty to become prime minister in the dying years of consensus politics in postwar Britain, died yesterday on the eve of his 93d birthday, his family said. James Callaghan died at his family home in East Sussex County, south of London, 11 days after the death of Audrey, his wife of 67 years, a family spokeswoman said. Cause of death was not given. Lord Callaghan, who entered Parliament as a Labor Party lawmaker in 1945, was prime minister from 1976 to 1979. He was the only British politician to hold, at different times, the four posts of prime minister, Treasury chief, foreign secretary, and home secretary.

Lord Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson in April 1976 and governed until May 1979, when strikes, financial crises, and party divisions cost him the election against Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party. The ascent of ''Sunny Jim" to become the country's fourth Labor prime minister took a combination of stamina, unflappability, and an instinct for the middle road. The stooped, bespectacled 6-footer was 64 when he inherited a quarreling party -- barely clinging to a parliamentary majority -- and an economy battered by double-digit inflation, rising wages, and a plummeting pound. Many saw Lord Callaghan as simply a caretaker, minding the store until the Thatcherites moved in with their free-market, union-bashing doctrines. Yet in two years, helped by the North Sea oil bonanza and $4 billion in bailout loans, the sterling recovered, inflation retreated to a single digit, and most workers voluntarily restrained wage demands. As Britain returned to the black again, Lord Callaghan approached the 1979 election running neck-and-neck with the Tories.

But in late 1978, the unions, fed up with wage restraints, launched their ''winter of discontent." Strikes left bodies unburied, garbage uncollected, trains paralyzed, cancer patients without hospital care, and children locked out of classrooms. Lord Callaghan stuck to his mild-mannered style. Returning from a summit in the Caribbean, he remarked, ''I do not feel there is mounting chaos." But that was not what the public wanted to hear. It wanted strong, decisive government, and the following year Margaret Thatcher ousted Lord Callaghan with a comfortable majority. Like Sir Winston Churchill, Lord Callaghan never attended college, saying he took his degree at ''The University of Life." His central themes were to align British interests with Washington rather than Europe and to maintain nuclear deterrence while working for arms control. Lord Callaghan enjoyed considerable stature abroad. President Carter and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany often consulted him, and Henry Kissinger called him ''one of the most underrated people I know. I consider him a truly wise man, a man who grows the longer you know him." Leonard James Callaghan was born March 27, 1912, in Portsmouth to a Catholic father and Baptist mother.

His father died when he was 9, plunging the family into poverty. They received no pension until Labor came into office in 1931 and paid the Callaghans a weekly pension of 10 shillings (then worth about $2). ''After that we were Labor for life," he recalled. After dropping out of school at 16, he went to work in a tax collection office and became involved in union affairs. He married teacher Audrey Moulton in 1938. After naval service in World War II, Lord Callaghan stood for election in Cardiff and was swept in with Labor's landslide majority in 1945. Within two years he was a junior minister. He loyally obeyed Wilson in refusing to devalue the pound and was proved right. He acceded to Catholic appeals to send the army into Northern Ireland in 1969 to protect them against Protestant mobs, but warned them then: ''I can send the army in, but I'll have the devil of a time getting it out again." The troops are still there. In 1972, he sought the prestigious presidency of the International Monetary Fund. But France vetoed him and he stayed in politics.

Wilson then suddenly resigned, and on April 5, 1976, the party anointed Lord Callaghan rather than Michael Foot. As a man well acquainted with union politics, Lord Callaghan seemed a better choice than the more left-wing Foot, although his moderate socialism often infuriated colleagues. ''Jim, you're not God, you know. I'm not even sure you're a socialist," left-wing veteran Eric Heffer once growled at him. Callaghan insisted he was as good a socialist as any. ''I hate injustice," he said. ''I've known it from the worm's-eye view." In 1980, he gave up the party leadership to Foot. In 1985, he resigned from Parliament and was elevated to the House of Lords. © Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. More: BBC ON THIS DAY | 5 | 1976: Callaghan is new prime minister 1976: Callaghan is new prime minister Britain's new Prime Minister, James Callaghan, has arrived in Downing Street for his first day in office.

He returned from his audience with the Queen at Buckingham Palace to pose for photographs outside the door of Number 10 Downing Street with his wife Audrey. Within hours, he made a televised address to the nation in which he promised a reforming government. However, he said, the future would not be easy. "There is no soft option," he said. "I don't promise you any real easement for some time to come. "There can be no lasting improvement in your living standards until we can achieve it without going deeper and deeper into debt as a nation." Leadership contest He made it clear that he considered the control of inflation his first priority. Unemployment, he said, was also too high - but could not be tackled until inflation had been brought under control. Mr Callaghan's appointment follows the surprise resignation of long-standing Labour leader and Prime Minister Harold Wilson last month. The result of the two-week leadership contest was announced just after 1600 BST (1500 GMT) to a packed meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Mr Callaghan had beaten his main rival, Employment Secretary Michael Foot, by 176 votes to 137.

Cabinet appointments During his speech of acceptance, he paid tribute to Harold Wilson, and then asked for the party to "wipe the slate clean" and stop inter-factional squabbling. In particular he asked the Tribune and Manifesto splinter groups - representing the extreme left and right of the party - to give their first loyalty to Labour. He confirmed Denis Healey would remain Chancellor, and said Mr Foot would have a cabinet role, although he did not say which. Other Cabinet reshuffles are expected later in the week. The media has already dubbed Mr Callaghan "Sailor Jim" after he revealed he had served as an ordinary seaman in World War II, as well as "Sunny Jim" for his upbeat temperament. He comes to Number Ten from the Foreign Office, where he has served for the last two years in the Wilson cabinet. It is the third senior cabinet post he has held. As Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1964-1967, he was forced to devalue the pound, after which he resigned. He then served as Home Secretary until Labour lost the general election in 1970.

The James Callaghan Premiership | James Clark - Academia.edu The James Callaghan Premiership James Clark British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c To what extent can James Callaghan’s relatively short tenure as prime minister, 1976–1979, be described as a fully realised premiership? "You know there are times, perhaps once every thirty years, when there is a seachange in politics. I suspect there is now such a sea change and it is for Mrs. Thatcher." James Callaghan (2006, pg.191) The shape of British political society has been sculpted by the premierships of prime ministers in varying degrees; there are ‘premiers who undoubtedly made a difference and others who did not’ (2013, pg.8). James Callaghan is ‘sometimes seen as just an interlude between the regimes of Wilson and Thatcher’ (The Guardian: James Callaghan Centenary), a passive onlooker who saw the post-war consensus shattered by Thatcherism and Chicago-school economics.

This essays intend to dispel that theory by fully unpacking his tenure, ultimately concluding that whilst contextual difficulties meant it was impossible for him to do much more than react to events, his skills meant his premiership was far better realised than it might otherwise have been. Furthermore, it is with hindsight that we have been afforded the opportunity to appreciate his political legacy, a legacy that it is testament to a fully realised premiership. Central to the analysis of a comprehensive premiership is an appreciation of the policies implemented by the prime minister and his government. Callaghan’s tenure is, in many ways, characterized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis of 1976 and the way in which his government handled problems which were, according to the Burk, born out of the ‘weakness and instability of the British economy in the mid-1970s, the consequence in part of the 1973 rise in oil prices’ (1992, pg.116). No real adjustment had been made to the quadrupling of oil prices and money markets had been reacting poorly to the government’s slow pace in curbing inflation and unemployment, and Callaghan ultimately inherited a crisis.

When such circumstances forced him to go ‘cap in hand’ to the IMF in 1976, Pearce and Goodlad hold that the ‘ensuing negotiations revealed Callaghan’s political skills at their best’ (2013, pg.223). British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c Indeed, the IMF had originally demanded cuts to public expenditure of £7bn over two years, but eventually agreed to £1bn and the sale of government-owned British Petroleum shares (2013, pg.223). Callaghan’s successful diplomacy is particularly evident when we consider Burk’s remark that the ‘Americans had every intention of using the IMF to dictate monetarist macro-economics policy to the British’ (1992, pg.144). Furthermore, following the agreement with the IMF, the overall economic and financial picture improved; inflation fell to 8% by 1978 and unemployment fell to 1,206,300 in 1978 from 1,522,000 in 1977 (2013, pg.224).

As Shore remarks, ‘as one who strongly opposed the loan, I have to say that the terms finally agreed were incredible, and indeed unemployment started to fall’ (New Statesmen: Master Juggler). These events of 1976, then, give credence to the assertion that Callaghan’s premiership was comprehensive in that he both rectified some of the enduring economic problems of the 1970’s and initiated a period of positive economic performance. Whilst the IMF crisis was the dominant concern for Callaghan’s government, there were further policy initiatives in his relatively short tenure that are indicative of a fulfilled premiership. The Supplementary Benefits Act 1976 gave those ‘whose resources (were) insufficient to meet his basic requirements’ (Benefits Act 1976) additional financial support in the form of a pension or allowance, whilst the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 ‘made further provisions…with respect to persons who are homeless or threatened with homelessness’ (Housing Act 1977).

Aspects of both acts remain integral to social security legislation today and are further demonstration that the Callaghan premiership realised a key objective in that he was able to put a personal stamp on British political society by helping to overcome the ‘poverty and deprivation his (own) family suffered in Portsmouth’ (2001, pg.378) and thus personally resonated with him deeply. British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c Having established that Callaghan realised his premiership in a policy context, we must now evaluate his wider political legacy with respect to two major themes; the transition in British politics away from the post-war consensus and the preservation of unity within the parliamentary Labour party. The former topic is widely explored in the literature, with Pearce and Goodlad asserting that he ‘valiantly attempted to defend the post-war consensus’ (2013, pg.227). Hennessey says ‘he was, is and will remain a man of 1945’ (2001, pg.378), an apparent contradiction in that he later portrays Callaghan as the catalyst behind the economic revolution.

What such interpretations fail to consider is his speech to the 1976 Labour party conference, where he spoke what he believed to be hard economic reality to a resistant Labour movement; ‘The cosy world where full employment would be guaranteed by a stroke of the Chancellor’s pen is gone. We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting Government spending. I tell you all in candour that this opinion no longer exists’. (British Political Speech Archives: Blackpool 1976) Callaghan showed an outright rejection of the Keynesian economic thought that had influenced his party since Attlee’s premiership, and demonstrated he was, as Hennessey notes, ‘an active change-maker rather than a passive onlooker gazing incomprehensibly at a changing economic scene’ (2001, pg.386). This revelation, that we can attribute the demise of post-war consensus politics to, in part at least, Callaghan, is testament to an enduring political legacy and fully realised premiership. The second issue that highlights Callaghan’s wider political legacy was his ability to preserve party unity through a collegiate style of Cabinet management.

The implications of the proposed IMF loan split the cabinet into the Bennite left who favoured import controls and a siege economy, and those backing Dennis Healy’s call to bite the bullet and impose serious cuts. British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c By allowing both sides to expound their cases and encouraging constructive debate, ‘he averted a split comparable to Ramsay MacDonald’s Labour government in 1931’ (2013, pg.223). Callaghan knew himself that it was quite possible for the government to break up (2006, pg.199), but he successfully negotiated the arduous process whilst simultaneously convincing the money markets and IMF to give his cabinet time to reach such a decision. This triumph of primus inter pares leads Hennessey to conclude that ‘the consummate skill with which Callaghan handled his cabinet was an object lesson for all prime ministers’ (2001, pg.387).

Mackintosh asserts that ‘to be judged to have succeeded, a Prime Minister has to demonstrate that he can cope successfully with his cabinet ’ (1997, pg.231), and with respect to this criteria, Callaghan certainly realised his premiership. The formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1981 is also indicative of Callaghan’s skills in this facet of prime ministerial responsibility, especially given that two of the ‘gang of four’, David Owen and Shirley Williams, were part of the cabinet that he kept united. Without the ability to unify what was a divided cabinet, we might well have seen this split earlier and Callaghan’s premiership would have been denied any real realisation in a way that Micheal Foot’s tenure as leader of the opposition was when he oversaw the SDP breakaway (The Guardian: A great man, a lousy leader). There is, then, a strong case to be put forward that Callaghan’s premiership was comprehensive in its three years. However, there are also three key issues that denied him further accomplishment in his time in office.

His lack of a parliamentary majority, the ‘winter of discontent’ and his apparent miss timing of an election call must be scrutinized in order to assert how they contributed to the realisation of his premiership. British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c On his first full day in office, Callaghan’s majority vanished. His government was, in this sense, ‘always living on borrowed time’ (2002, pg.290). Theakston’s remark alludes to his reliance on the Liberal Party and Scottish National Party for parliamentary support, and Theakston then applies this problem to a wider understanding of the Callaghan premiership; ‘his skills were devoted to holding the line, rather than to the constructive purposes to which he had hoped to devote himself’ (2002, pg.291). In the same way that Tony Blair’s 197-seat majority in his first term removed significant parliamentary obstacles to realizing a full premiership in legislative terms, the opposite can be said for Callaghan.

Whilst this essay has already demonstrated he achieved much in a policy context, ‘command(ing) a parliamentary majority is vital…Callaghan’s ability to deliver his government’s social programme was compromised’ (2013, pg.8). If we accept that he would have accomplished more with a parliamentary majority, then, it is difficult to assert that his premiership was fully realised, despite its many achievements. The infamous ‘winter of discontent’ was a period where both Callaghan himself and factors outwith his control fuelled a crisis that severely undermined his premiership. He had been dealing with the long-term economic difficulties through pay restraints, an approach that had been operating for four years with reasonable success (GOV.UK: Past Prime Ministers: James Callaghan). He gambled that a fifth year would further improve the economy and allow him to be re-elected in 1979, and so set a pay norm at 5%, ‘a most unrealistic target’ according to Matthijs. (2010, pg.101). Theakston notes that the subsequent strikes were an ‘explosion of raw union power that destroyed Labour’s reputation’ (2002, pg.288).

It is plausible that because Callaghan had such an affinity with the unions from his past, their role in the demise of the party deeply unsettled him and led to the ‘further mistakes and miscalculations in the run up to the election’ noted by Dorey (2011, pg.381). However, whilst these mistakes were pivotal, Matthijs notes that the ‘right-wing tabloid press successfully constructed a crisis scenario’ (2010, pg.101). British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c The famous headline in The Sun "Crisis? What Crisis?" was a misrepresentation of what he actually said when returning from an economic summit in Guadeloupe, and the printing of images such as Figure 1 lead Simpson to conclude that the picture painted was far worse than reality (2009, pg.480). The combination of these factors, whilst difficult to accurately gauge, obviously had a devastating impact of his election campaign, and thus the implications for what his premiership might have been able to attain are both significant and obvious.

Callaghan’s gamble, then, didn’t pay off and Margaret Thatcher took a 44-seat majority into office after the 1979 election. In the autumn of 1978, however, it was ahead of the Conservatives in the polls and Thorpe recalls how the expectation grew that he would call an election (2008, pg.207). This shows how his mistake of continuing the pay restraints policy was compounded by his decision to wait for the policy to have a positive impact on the economy. Quite simply, then, an autumn ’78 election might have re-elected Callaghan and would thus have allowed him to forge a greater political legacy and better-realised premiership with another term in office. Ultimately, the factors that point to Callaghan’s premiership being fully realised owe much to his skills and commitment as a politician. He turned the IMF crisis into a triumph of cabinet management and diplomacy, whilst also initiating policies that targeted issues close to his heart. Furthermore, it was Callaghan himself who carved out a political legacy in just three years as prime minister through both preserving the unity of the party and catalysing a total reorientation of economic practice in Britain.

Conversely, key factors that unravelled his premiership including the media influence in the ‘winter of discontent’ and his lack of a majority in government were outwith his control. This fact, however, doesn’t dismiss that they, along with critical mistakes that he made, ultimately contributed to denying him a longer premiership and such contextual difficulties are widely appreciated in the literature. Hennessy believes Callaghan to have been a good prime minister defeated by impossible circumstances (2001, pg.378). British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c Callaghan, then, did much to resist the ‘sea change for Mrs. Thatcher’ that he famously anticipated, and the forces that ‘wrecked his administration could have done so long before it finally hit the rocks in 1979’ (2002, pg.295). His premiership was successful in many regards and his political skills mean the three years he did enjoy were perhaps as fully realised as they could have been given the daunting economic and political backdrop. However, the factors that denied him electoral victory in 1979 also denied him a fully realised premiership.

British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c BIBLIOGRAPHY Burk, Kathleen (1992). Goodbye, Great Britain: The 1976 IMF Crisis. Yale University Press, Newhaven and London. British Political Speech Archives: James Callaghan, Blackpool 1976. Accessed 09/11/2013. Callaghan, James. (2006) Time and Chance. Politico's Publishing Ltd. Dorey, P (2011), ‘A Rather Novel Constitutional Experiment’: The Formation of the 1977–8 ‘Lib-Lab Pact’. Parliamentary History, Vol. 30, pt. 3 (2011), pp. 374– 394 ‘GOV.UK History of Past Prime Ministers: James Callaghan’ Accessed 14/11/2013. ‘The Guardian: James Callaghan: a great PM who, 100 years on, still stands tall’ accessed 17/11/2013. ‘The Guardian: A great man, a lousy leader.

Roy Hattersley on Michael Foot.’ accessed 16/11/2013. Hennessey, P (2001). The Prime Minister: The Office And Its Holders Since 1945: The Job and Its Holders Since 1945. Penguin; New Ed edition. Housing (Homeless Person) Act 1977, Chapter 48. Accessed 17/11/2013. Mackintosh, J.P (1997) The government and politics of Britain. London : Hutchinson Press. Matthijs, M (2010), Ideas and Economic Crises in Britain from Attlee to Blair (1945-2005). Routledge Publishing, New York. ‘New Statesmen: Master Juggler; A review of time and chance by Peter Shore’. Magazine Article from June 5, 1987. Accessed 13/11/2013. Pearce, R and Goodlad, G (2013) British Prime Ministers From Balfour To Brown. Routledge Publishing, New York.

British Prime Ministers Since WWII Course Essay 1000022c Supplementary Benefits Act 1976, Chapter 44. Accessed 17/11/2013. Simpson, J (2009), ‘Unreliable Sources: How the Twentieth Century was Reported’. Macmillan Publishing. Theakston, K (2002) Political Skills and Context in Prime Ministerial Leadership in Britain. In Politics and Policy Vol. 30, No.2, June 2002, pages 284-300. Thorpe, A (2008), A History Of The British Labour Party. Palgrave Macmillan; 3rd edition. APPENDIX Figure 1 (Source: PA News). READ PAPER BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Obituary: Lord Callaghan Obituary: Lord Callaghan Lord Callaghan died at home, on the eve of his 93rd birthday James Callaghan was the only prime minister to come to the premiership after holding the other three great offices of state - chancellor of the exchequer, home secretary and foreign secretary.

He came with a long and thorough experience of Parliament, the Labour Party and the trade unions. And yet it was the unions, that he had worked with, supported and understood, which perhaps most contributed to his fall. Leonard James (Jim) Callaghan was born and brought up in poor circumstances in Portsmouth, the son of a naval chief petty officer of Irish descent. Leaving secondary school at 16, he became a tax clerk before serving in the Royal Navy. Elected for a Cardiff constituency at the 1945 general election, Callaghan would represent Cardiff seats for more than 40 years. Devaluation challenge After serving as a junior minister in the Attlee government, he became chancellor of the exchequer when Labour returned to power in 1964. With sterling under pressure, he resisted devaluation for three years, before being forced into it in 1967. The young Jim Callaghan served in The Royal Navy Swapping jobs with Roy Jenkins at the Home Office, he coped firmly with domestic events, while putting the troops into Northern Ireland to protect the minority community.

As foreign secretary after 1974, he oversaw the re-negotiation of the terms of Britain's membership of the EEC. When Harold Wilson resigned as Labour leader and prime minister in 1976, Jim Callaghan took over, beating Michael Foot in a ballot of MPs. But continuing problems of inflation, wage restraint and pressure on the pound, soon led to spending cuts at the behest of the International Monetary Fund. "Winter of discontent" Abroad, he established good relations with US President Jimmy Carter and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt. At home, he cut a reassuring figure, even though his incomes policy disintegrated, the Bill to introduce devolution divided the Labour Party, and the government's majority became wafer-thin. A pact with David Steel's Liberals kept him in power for another 18 months. But when he addressed the Trades Union Congress, in the autumn of 1978, he was expected to signal an election. He did not. This decision surprised many, and the winter that followed the rejection of the government's 5% wage norm was one of industrial trouble, walkouts, undermanned hospitals and even unburied bodies.

Jim Callaghan entered Number Ten as prime minister in 1976 In the midst of this "winter of discontent" of 1978-79, Callaghan returned from a summit on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, and gave some an impression of complacency when he denied there was mounting chaos. "Crisis? What crisis?" said the Sun headlines next day. Before long, the government was in a parliamentary crisis, when the Scottish Nationalists and other minor parties deserted Labour over devolution. In a vote of confidence, Labour lost by one vote, the first time this had happened in 50 years. In the excited parliamentary atmosphere that followed, Callaghan acknowledged that the government's time had run out. Father of the House After losing the 1979 general election to Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives, he remained as Labour leader for another year, before handing over to Michael Foot. As Father of the House, he irritated some colleagues by his forthright support for nuclear weapons. When he retired in 1987, Jim Callaghan was made a life peer and Knight of the Garter.

The Winter of Discontent marred Callaghan's premiership More recently, his daughter Margaret, Baroness Jay, was, as Labour leader of the House of Lords, at the forefront of the legislative campaign to reform the Upper House and end the rights of hereditary peers. Some political diarists have depicted Jim Callaghan as an over-cautious pessimist. His supporters saw him as "Sunny Jim", a man of optimism and authority who spoke straightforward common-sense based on a lifetime of hard-learned experience. His bonhomie, patriotism and the simplicity of his tastes made him always more popular than his party. But in the end he was a victim of events, of time and chance, against which, as prime minister, he constantly struggled.

History of Harold Wilson - GOV.UK GOV.UK Harold Wilson Labour 1974 to 1976, 1964 to 1970 Born 11 March 1916, Huddersfield, Yorkshire Died 1974 to 1976, 1964 to 1970 Political party Labour Major acts Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965: suspended the death penalty in England, Wales and Scotland. Sexual Offences Act 1967: decriminalisation of certain homosexual offences. Interesting facts In 1969 he was struck in the eye by a stink bomb thrown by a schoolboy. Wilson’s response was "with an arm like that he ought to be in the English cricket XI″ As Prime Minister Harold Wilson enacted social reforms in education, health, housing, gender equality, price controls, pensions, provisions for disabled people and child poverty. Harold Wilson, the son of a chemist and teacher, was born in Yorkshire during the First World War. In 1924, aged 8, he visited 10 Downing Street, which would eventually become his home.

He studied Modern History for a year before transferring to Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, graduating with a first class BA. The Labour politician entered Parliament in 1945 as MP for Ormskirk and later becoming MP for Huyton. In 1947, then Prime Minister Clement Attlee made Wilson President of the Board of Trade. Aged 31, he had become the youngest member of the Cabinet in the 20th century. Under Hugh Gaitskell’s leadership of the Labour party, Wilson served as Shadow Chancellor from 1955 to 1961, then as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 1961 to 1963. After Gaitskell passed away suddenly, Wilson fought and won a leadership contest against George Brown and James Callaghan. As Labour leader, he won 4 of the 5 General Elections he contested, although this includes a minority government. His first election victory on 15 October 1964 saw him win with a small majority of 4, which increased significantly to 98 after a second General Election on 31 March 1966.

As Prime Minister from 1964 to 1970, his main plan was to modernise. He believed that he would be aided by the “white heat of the technological revolution”. His government supported backbench MPs in liberalising laws on censorship, divorce, abortion, and homosexuality, and he abolished capital punishment. Crucial steps were taken towards stopping discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, and Wilson’s government also created the Open University. In comparison, his outlook on foreign affairs was less modernising. He wanted to maintain Britain’s world role by keeping the Commonwealth united and nurturing the Anglo-American alliance. For example, his approach to the Vietnam War saw him skilfully balance modernist ambitions with Anglo-American interests when, despite repeated American requests, he kept British troops out while still maintaining good relations. Wilson biographer Philip Ziegler characterises his role as “honest broker”. However, he had to fundamentally reshape Britain’s world role after inheriting an overstretched military and a £400 million balance of payments deficit, which caused successive sterling crises.

To resolve these 2 interlinked problems, Wilson launched a Defence Review (1964 to 1965) and created the Department for Economic Affairs, which sought to implement an ambitious National Plan. When sterling crises continued, Wilson was forced to devalue the pound in November 1967. Two months later, his government reluctantly announced Britain’s gradual withdrawal from the strategically important East of Suez. Despite his initial hesitation, Wilson recognised the value of membership of the European Economic Community ( EEC ), but his 1967 application was unsuccessful. Believing his popularity had increased, Wilson called a general election on 18 June 1970, but suffered defeat by the Conservative Party under Edward Heath . Wilson held onto the Labour leadership. The next General Election on 28 February 1974 resulted in a hung parliament, and he formed a minority government. He called another election on 10 October 1974 at which he secured a small majority of 3. His next 2 years as Prime Minister saw him concentrate heavily on domestic policy, achieving social reforms in education, health, housing, gender equality, price controls, pensions, provisions for disabled people and child poverty.

As a result, income tax on top earners increased to 83%. Job creation remained an issue – by 1975, unemployment had reached 1 million. He limited the damage caused by differing opinions within his party during renegotiation of the terms of Britain’s EEC membership. He also sought to resolve The Troubles between the nationalists and unionists in Northern Ireland but was ultimately unsuccessful. On 16 March 1976, 5 days after his 60th birthday, he stunned the nation when he announced his intention to resign, a decision that he claimed he had made 2 years previously. James Callaghan , leader of the Labour Party, succeeded him to the role of Prime Minister.

Question: In which year did James Callaghan become Prime Minister?
Answer: 1976